01/21/2006 14:21
Women are being elected presidents in different
countries

"I wonder if anybody could imagine a female
president in Chile some 20 years or 10 years ago, even
5 years ago," said Chile's new president Michelle
Bachelet shortly after being sworn in. It is worthy of
note that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated also
this week as a new president of Liberia. She became
the first woman who became head of state in the
history of Africa. Few analysts doubt that Tarja
Halonen will win in a runoff of the presidential
election in Finland.

Is the "female expansion" into big politics an
accidental event or a trend? Has the role of women
changed in the modern world? Below are the opinions of
Russian experts - Sergei Markov, Denis Dragunsky and
Boris Makarenko.

Sergei Markov, the Director of the Institute of
Political Studies:

It is a trend, and the role of women has
changed. Women have been coming into politics for a
long time now. It is a three-stage journey. The first
stage was completed after women got the right to vote.
The destruction of a patriarchal family marked the
second stage. As a result, women started to cast their
votes in accordance with their views, not as they were
told by their husbands. The third stage drew to a
close as women were elected to parliaments and
appointed to governments. Now we see a new stage
taking shape - women are being elected presidents in
different countries.

All of the above make part of a long process of
emancipation of women. The process is far from over.

Aside from emancipation, there is yet another
trend. I expect a much higher percentage of women to
play an important role in politics. Woman will
dominate politics one of these days.

All and all, women are becoming a more important
force all over the world.

The importance of a physical force is gradually
decreasing. A rational analysis that is a
characteristic of the male seems less important these
days than intuition, a female quality. A person of the
past was supposed to concentrate on one important
business (suitable for men). Nowadays it is essential
that a person be able to keep several projects going.
Making decisions on a 'friend or foe' basis was an
important requirement of the past. Today you should
carefully build interpersonal relations in order to
succeed.

I am not talking about politics only. The role
of women in managing various institutions can only
grow bigger.

Fortunately, my world will still be the men's
world, anyway. We do not know how the women's world
will look like. There are a few good things with
regard to a female way of management e.g. a propensity
for making compromises. However, there are other
characteristics that do not look so placid. Take a
look at commercials targeting female consumers. A new
trend shows aggressiveness as an embodiment of the
modern woman.

However, thus far the majority of female
politicians, the so-called 'iron ladies, have
displayed men's qualities.' I believe soon those
ladies will be replaced by female politicians that
will do men's job in a female way. Yulia Tymoshenko is
one of the most flagrant examples.

Denis Dragunsky, scientific leader of the
research institute "Public Agreement":

It is a trend, and a very good one. The role of
women in politics has changed. It has become more
important. It does not apply exclusively to the
feminist movements that brought about radical changes
in politics in 20th and 21st centuries. This is the
only way of the development of democracy for it can be
assessed by a degree of participation of various
strata of citizens in the democratic processes. The
analysis implies using a range of principles from
racial to property to age and gender.

Many women are still aware of this side of life.
However, taking part in the decision-making is getting
natural for women.

Taking into account that a woman has won the
presidential race in Chile, the significance is even
higher. Latin America's equatorial machismo is the
other side of adulation for the woman. Chile has
always looked like a variety of Latin American
Prussia. Too much masculinity wearing military uniform
at all times. The emergence of a female president in
such a militarist country as Chile is a lot more
important than electing a female president in
Venezuela.

Boris Makarenko, deputy director of the Center
of Political Technologies:

It is a coincidence as well as a trend. Women in
the top executive positions are hardly a news item in
Europe or anywhere else. Let us recall India and
Israel headed by women in the 20th century. The real
news is that women assumed top executive positions
within a week in different parts of the world.

The process of emancipation goes on, it is a
universal trend. But an emancipation rate differs in
different countries. Scandinavian countries have the
highest rate. I would say that the process of complete
erasure of gender barriers has been virtually
completed. It is unsurprising to see women becoming
presidents in Finland and Norway.

Emancipation has made considerable progress in
most countries. It resulted in creating conditions for
the election of women. At the same time, a complete
social equality still belongs to the future. A number
of reasons normally lie behind the election of a woman
to the position of a chief of state. A charismatic
personality e.g. Margaret Thatcher has good chances of
being elected. A strong woman will predictably go to
the top if she happens to be a daughter, widow and
relative of a popular male politician. All female
presidents in India were elected because of the above
factor. Indira Ghandi was the only exception. Despite
being related to a popular political leader, she
became a prominent politician herself.

By the way, Michelle Bachelet is a daughter of a
well-known army general who was arrested and tortured
to death during the rule of General Pinochet.

A political crisis at times creates conditions
for a female politician to take power. The election of
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is one of the examples.

Originally posted by antediluvianist ... A strong woman will predictably go to
the top if she happens to be a daughter, widow and
relative of a popular male politician. All female
presidents in India were elected because of the above
factor. Indira Ghandi was the only exception. Despite
being related to a popular political leader, she
became a prominent politician herself.

By the way, Michelle Bachelet is a daughter of a
well-known army general who was arrested and tortured
to death during the rule of General Pinochet.

A political crisis at times creates conditions
for a female politician to take power. The election of
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is one of the examples.

So equality is far from being complete.

Click to expand...

So let's see...

Cory is the widow of a popular political figure, catapulted to power via street protests we all know as EDSA I... Nah, can't call that political savvy. Next...

GMA is the daughter of a past President. Moneyed, Nora-look-alike, a willing victim of another coup de'etat we all know as Edsa 2. Again, not by virtue of political savvy...

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